CHICAGO — A cold week in the Windy City ended with the Mets floating face down in Lake Michigan, alive but numb.
Their jittery defense held for a night, but the still underperforming lineup couldn’t produce and then Edwin Diaz caved in his second inning of work. Jason Heyward’s RBI single against Diaz in the 10th inning Thursday night sent the Mets to a 4-3 loss to the Cubs, who completed a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field.
“Getting swept feels like eating a sh-t sandwich, to be honest with you,” Pete Alonso said.
With Javier Baez at second base to start the inning (per the rule in extras), Diaz drilled Matt Duffy leading off the frame. After David Bote’s sacrifice bunt, Diaz intentionally walked Eric Sogard to load the bases before Heyward stroked a single to end it.
Alonso had a good look at third base on Bote’s sacrifice bunt, but slipped on the grass and opted to get the out at first.
“I had the play, I slipped — the grass kind of had some condensation on it as it got colder throughout the night,” Alonso said. “It got a little wet out there with the grass. That was a tough one.”
The Mets missed their chance to go ahead in the top of the inning when Dominic Smith hit into a double play after Dan Winkler had loaded the bases by walking Luis Guillorme and Francisco Lindor.
Aaron Loup and Miguel Castro combined to strand the go-ahead run at third base in the eighth after Jake Marisnick delivered a leadoff triple. The lefty Loup retired Austin Romine and struck out Ian Happ before Castro entered and struck out Willson Contreras.
J.D. Davis smashed a pinch-hit RBI double off the left-field wall in the seventh to tie it at 3-3. Davis was absent from the starting lineup, replaced by Guillorme, after committing three errors in the previous two games. But with the go-ahead run on second, Andrew Chafin retired Lindor.
“We threw the ball well overall and we played really good defense and we felt the bats were swinging, too,” manager Luis Rojas said. “We had that chance later in the game, we just couldn’t deliver a big hit.
“Tough series, we just got swept. We have got to go home and come back and play good baseball [Friday], keep pushing like we did.”
Sean Reid-Foley, in his Mets debut, was a bright spot. The right-hander, who arrived from the alternate site before the game, entered in the fourth and fired three perfect innings with four strikeouts.
Alonso’s second homer in as many nights sliced the Mets’ deficit to 3-2 in the fourth. After Smith doubled leading off the inning, Alonso blasted a 413-foot shot to left field for his team-leading fourth homer. Michael Conforto followed with a shot to left-center that just missed clearing the wall and went for a double. Jonathan Villar’s one-out walk extended the rally, but Trevor Williams retired Kevin Pillar and struck out pinch-hitter Brandon Nimmo to end the threat.
In his second Mets start, Joey Lucchesi lasted three innings and surrendered three earned runs on two hits with five strikeouts and two walks. It was a second straight three-inning start for the lefty, who pitched the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader in Colorado. By pitching Lucchesi against the Cubs, Rojas gave Jacob deGrom an extra day of rest. The Mets ace is scheduled to start Friday’s game against the Nationals at Citi Field.
Lucchesi’s undoing was walking Marisnick and the pitcher Williams successively in the third. With two outs, Contreras hit a shot that deflected off Lucchesi for an RBI single. Kris Bryant followed with a two-run double that thrust the Mets into a 3-0 hole. On the play, Pillar barehanded the carom off the wall, but Villar double-pumped on the relay throw and fired off line to the plate as the trail runner, Contreras, scored.
“I messed up when I walked the pitcher,” Lucchesi said. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
Now the Mets head back to Citi Field for five games against the Nationals and Red Sox, trying to shake the unsavory taste of the 2-4 road trip.
“We have got to stay positive, stay strong and go back to that winning mentality that I know this group has,” Rojas said. “We’ll be ready to go. Jake is on the mound, we’ll be ready to face the Nationals.”